


You Only Lose the Gold

by EwanMcGregorIsMyHomeboy12



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo Card 1 [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Blood, Cody Whump, Electricity, Forced Prize Fight, Implied Torture, Injury, M/M, Obi-Wan Kenobi Whump, Whipping, Zygerria Arc (Star Wars: Clone Wars), ambiguous ending, shock collar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28995216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EwanMcGregorIsMyHomeboy12/pseuds/EwanMcGregorIsMyHomeboy12
Summary: “Well, we’ve got a real treat for you today, Ladies and Gentleman!”The crowd roared in Cody’s ears, and he could feel the change in pitch vibrate through his chest and into his bones. It was as though he were hollow and the bloodlust he could feel on the air was slowly filling him, head to toe.Bad Things Bingo Prompt: Forced Prize Fight for picklesrgreat22 and aamyntas  on tumblr
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo Card 1 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2123604
Comments: 5
Kudos: 101





	You Only Lose the Gold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amyntas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amyntas/gifts).



> Second Bad Things Happen Bingo Prompt: Forced Prize Fight and some specific requests for this scenario :)  
> This also references the most unbelievable part of star wars which is all the white people living in the desert without sunscreen. 
> 
> Requests are open and pouring in (which makes me so happy, yall have no idea!!!) 
> 
> As always, I hope you enjoy! Please R and R, let me know what you think :) 
> 
> Find me, and my bingo card on tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ewanmcgregorismyhomeboy12

“Well, we’ve got a real treat for you today, Ladies and Gentleman!”

The crowd roared in Cody’s ears, and he could feel the change in pitch vibrate through his chest and into his bones. It was as though he were hollow and the bloodlust he could feel on the air was slowly filling him, head to toe. He blinked against the blinding sun to look up through one heavy-lidded eye, trying to find the source of the voice. The announcer’s voice was soothing, like the being that did the late-night show on the holo-radio. What an absurd thought.

It had to be the platform at the top of the stadium, where the Queen and her entourage were undoubtedly sitting in the shade of one of the jagged awnings there.

“Making his debut here in the fighting pits,” A hush fell over the crowd and Cody turned his head (slowly, feeling the protest in neck at the motion) to watch with them at one of the gates, “One of the most recognizable faces in the galaxy…for now, at least!” Cody could practically hear the wink that accompanied the words, could hear as the cruel joke sent the crowd into hysterics around the pit, the sound swallowing him whole. His stomach sank as he stared at the gates where two guards were pulling along a person behind them by a pair of metal chains, knowing who was going to walk about of them before he could spot the shock of dark red hair. Even here, it caught the sun like nothing quite else could.

“Straight from the frontlines of the Grand Army of the Republic, Jedi Master Obi-” He let the syllable hang in the air as the crowd started to cheer louder.

“-Wan-” Shouts, then, and whistles and screams that disorient Cody to the point that when they started to pull him from the ground under his arms, he forgot to protest.

“-Kenobi!”

Thunder erupted with the crowd’s heavy stomping, chanting in some language that Cody didn’t know. Zygerian, he assumed, or whatever it was that Zygerians spoke beyond Basic. He squinted through his eyes at Obi-Wan who was walking as slowly as they would allow him to. Cody couldn’t see well, one of his eyes almost completely swollen shut and the other likely headed that way, but he even now he could register the look of horror that flitter across Obi-Wan’s face at the sight of him. It had to mirror Cody’s own.

Obi-Wan’s tunic was gone, and he could see evidence of dried blood peeking around his sides that matched the spots on his shackled wrists and that had seeped from underneath the shock collar connected to the guard’s chains. There was a cut above one ear, the blood from it smeared down his face and into that hair on his temple.

They had been separated hours ago, or maybe it was the day before…Cody couldn’t be sure of the exact time that had passed in the underground holding cell they had shoved him into. Long enough for the guards to have fun beating their various frustrations out into his skin. He had thought Obi-Wan could have escaped. Apparently not. Judging by the dark pink tint to Obi-Wan’s skin and the dark red spreading over his shoulders and arms, wherever they had been holding him had been somewhere in the unfettered desert sun.

“But we have a special treat for both you and Master Kenobi, tonight, ladies and gentleman,” The crowd started in their excitement again, and Cody met Obi-Wan’s gaze, the worry there troubling Cody far more than the Zygerrian crowd did.

“When Master Kenobi fights for his freedom tonight, he won’t be just fighting for himself,” The crowd hushed at this announcement, anticipation dripping from them, “You see, unbeknownst to Master Kenobi, his own Clone Commander was caught trying to infiltrate our city just before he was.”

This time, the crowd boo-ed and their genuine hatred would have been shocking if Cody could bring it to himself to care. Instead, there was nothing, absolutely nothing that could overwhelm the dread that had crept into him now.

“When Master Kenobi fights today, he’s fighting not only for his own freedom, but that of his Commander,” Cody didn’t notice the electro-jabber coming until it was already pressed deeply into his side. He fell to his knees, hot sand digging into his already cut skin, and his head was forced back until his gaze was fixed on the platform that held the announcer whipping the crowd into a frenzy. And two other figures, sitting in the shade. One was the queen, and Cody thought he his vision must be more messed up than he realized because he could have sworn the other was Skywalker.

They started to drag him across the ground, shoving Obi-Wan back and away from him. Cody didn’t protest, knowing it would cause problems, but the action tore at his heart. Would that be the last time he saw Obi-Wan’s face? Would the last look he saw in Obi-Wan’s eyes be only the slightest hint of fear at their fate? None of the love, none of the tenderness, none of the stolen moments that had gotten him through the last months of war. Nothing but pain.

He landed on the sand next to another being who didn’t give the slightest indication that Cody was there. For a moment, Cody thought it was a corpse until they blinked, staring at nothing. In watching them he missed the next part of the announcer’s words, but the crowd brought him back to it.

Obi-Wan was free of his chains now, his wrists still cuffed, but no longer attached together. The guards stood nearby, electro-jabbers at the ready, as whoever the queen’s champion was came riding in on their chariot. They were a massive being, truly massive. Built like D’Nar, only seemingly twice the size.

The crowd loved whoever it was, cheering as the announcer explained the rules. Fight to the death. Or the defender could call for mercy and, if the queen chose to grant it, his life would be given to her in service. He didn’t elaborate on what Obi-Wan would get if he won. Freedom, it seemed, in whatever abstract form it existed in on Zygeria. Cody swallowed hot air, dirt sticking to his throat.

He looked at Obi-Wan, who’s eyes were on his opponent. Cody could see his back now, splattered with blood and gore from long diagonal slashes that ran from shoulder to hip. Cody had let the faintest hope that he had escaped the worst of the torture that Zygeria had to offer, but apparently not. He could see the tension in Obi-Wan’s muscles, the same tension he had felt under his own hands seemingly endless times now, when they were in far more pleasant situations. Situations that Cody was certain they would live through.

Maybe they would live now. Even with the crowd howling for the massive Zygerian to crush Obi-Wan’s skull into the dust, Obi-Wan was a Jedi Master. Cody had seen him do impossible things before, had seen him defeat impossible odds in places they never should have been. He could win.

Cody let that hope swell in his chest as he watched Obi-Wan turn to face his opponent who barreled at him with incredible strength but not finesse. Cody must has smiled, because a glove fist struck him across the face. He spat a mouthful of blood to the ground, the liquid absorbed and soaking away in an instant. When he looked up again, he could see Obi-Wan’s front, the man having weaved his way easily around his opponent.

He could track his movements just as easily with the noises of the crowd. While they may have been calling for Obi-Wan’s death, they wanted a show, and in spite of everything else, he was giving it to them. The Zygerina barreled past him again, and again and again until he tripped hard and fell to the ground at Obi-Wan’s feet. He reached for Obi-Wan’s leg, but he was too quick, leaping backwards out of reach at the perfect instant. Cody could see his eyes searching, looking for a weapon he could use. Anything he could use to win the fight. Hope flared again in Cody as his eyes fixed on one of the guards electro-jabbers.

The motion of him grabbing it was swift, so quick that Cody could barely register it. Then it was in his hands, one of the guards sprawled on his back. The Zygerian in the ring snarled, and raised his arms, the crowd gasping as Obi-Wan turned to him. Cody thought he knew his plan. Stun them, long enough for them to escape. Leave Zygeria before they blew Skywalker’s cover and the entire rescue operations. They could do it. Obi-Wan could win. This time when he smiled, his guard didn’t react, too distracted by the fight.

Obi-Wan leapt, dodging a massive clawed fist with seeming ease. The electro-jabber came down hard in the Zygerian's side and he feel with a bellow of rage and pain to the ground. Obi-Wan didn’t stop. He leapt, rolling smoothly despite his own wounds and hit first the guard that was armed and then the one that he had stolen the jabber from. And then he was running for Cody, stirring up a cloud of dust behind him with the speed at which moved, the jabber raised against the guard who had only just started to brace for attack.

But the freeing blow never came.

When the dust cleared, Obi-Wan was on the ground, convulsing. Cody blinked, and blinked again, half-convinced it was his vision until the guard’s fist caught him across the mouth a second time and Obi-Wan stayed down, arms and legs thrashing.

It didn’t stop until the platform holding the queen and her escorts lowered all the way to where he was laying. Cody registered it was Skywalker, but couldn’t take his eyes from Obi-Wan who was gasping with pain and exhaustion, clawing at his throat where the shock collar was still clamped tightly to his skin. The queen held something in her hand, glinting in the light, and as she pressed it, the convulsions stopped.

By then, the guards were back awake, lifting Obi-Wan to his knees, re-clamping his hands.

“You think you are the first to almost escape, Master Kenobi?” She said, and Cody could hear the cold laughter in her tone. She reached down her free hand to Obi-Wan’s chin, squeezing his face in a vice-like clamp on either side of his face until her long, feline nails drew blood to the surface of his skin. Obi-Wan said nothing, staring up at her with what Cody knew had to be pure defiance in his expression.

“Lars,” She said, keeping her grip on Obi-Wan but turning to Skywalker, “Prove your loyalty to me.”

She let go, and the guards threw Obi-Wan to the ground in front of them, hands clamped together. She pulled something from her belt and handed it to Skywalker, who took it with reluctance that Cody hoped only he could see. A flick of a button and the thin yellow strand flickered to life.

“Whip the jedi,” She said coldly.

The crowd took up the call, drowning out the announcer who had repeated her words. It was blistering, as blistering as the sun, and Cody watched as Skywalker took a step forward.

Cody closed his eyes. Unable able to drown out the world around him. Unable to face what the next seconds might bring.


End file.
